Play ball



Nov. 17, 1936. J. H. GRADY Filed Feb. '255, 1953 I N VENTOR JOHN H. GRADY ATTORNEYS Patented Nov. 17, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PLAY BALL John H. Grady, St. Louis, Mo.,

Grady Manufacturing Company, a corporation of Missouri assignor tol J. H. St. Louis, Mo.,

Application February 23, 1933, Serial No. 657,936

2 Claims.

down or lose its original spherical form after long usage, or hard usage. To this end I have devised an indoor ball or playground ball, consisting of a spherical body surrounded or encased in a resilient shell of definite shape or form, constructed,

from tightly wound yarn or the like coated with latex or an equivalent substance, which will set .or congeal so as to form in effect a one-piece resilient shell, reinforced by numerous strands of yarn, each of which is completely surrounded by the rubber-like substance of which said shell is constructed. Such a ball is superior to and an improvement on the so-called dippedplay ground or indoor balls heretofore used extensively, because the strands of yarn are much stronger and are bound together in such a way as to effectively prevent them from slipping or moving relatively to each other, both of these desirable characteristics resulting from the fact that each strand is completely surrounded by a coating latex which merges into the coatings of adjacent strands, thereby permanently uniting all of the strands and causing them lto be immovably imbedded in a tough, light weight, resilient, spherical shell that will maintain the original shape orform of the spherical body which the yshell surrounds. ,p

Figure 1 of the drawing is a cross-sectional View of a playground ball constructed in accordance with my invention; and Figure 2 is an elevational view of said ball.

Referring to the drawing, A designates a center core .formed from kapok or any other suitable material compressed into spherical form, and wrapped with yarn B so as to form a spherical body. C designates a spherical shell-like part surrounding the spherical body above mentioned and formed from latex or any other suitable selfsetting, rubber-like material in which tightly wound yarn or the like is incorporated in such a way that each strand of yarn is completely encased in said rubber-like material. D designates an outer cover formed from any suitable or preferred material that may be used to protect the shell C from abrasion, although said outer cover is not essential, inasmuch as the portions A and B are encased in a resilient shell C that will retainits original spherical form, even after long or continuous usage'. t

In manufacturing the said ball ordinary yarn or uncoated yarn is wound tightly around the core A by conventional procedure so as to produce a body B of tightly Wound yarn, and after said body B has attained the desired size or diameter, 5

yarn that is coated or impregnated withlatex or an equivalent rubber-like material is wound tightly around the spherical body B so as to form a spherical shell C that is made up of strands of yarn completely encased in rubberlo like material. After said rubber-like material has set or congealed, it produces an imperforate resilient shell of denite shape, which, in addition to edectively preventing the uncoated yarn part B from becoming soft, due to shifting or 16 slippage of the yarn, imparts resiliency and solidity to the body portion of the ball and causes same to retain its original spherical form indefinitely, even after the ball has been subjected to long and hard usage. employed, said outer cover is preferably applied` before the rubber-like material constituting the shell C has set or congealed. The procedure employed to produce the ball may be varied to suit existing conditions, but I prefer to wind ordi- 25 nary yarn B tightly around the core A until a spherical body of a certain approximate diameter is obtained, and thereafter, progressively apply rubber-like material to said spherical body If an outer cover D is 20 to form a shell on same of a denite thickness, 30

the preferred method of applying said rubberlike material being to feed yarn through a receptacle that contains llatex or similar material so as to cause the yarn to be coated, and then wind said rubber coated yarn onto the part B, thereby 35 causing the coated yarn to be wound into or incorporated in the vbody portion of the ball at approximately the time the coating is applied to the yarn. It is not absolutely necessary that the coating be applied to the yarn practically simul- 40 taneously with the winding operation. Instead, the body portion or a part of the body portion could be formed from yarn or the like to which a coating oflatex or equivalent material was applied long prior to the winding operation.

In prior playground and indoor balls of the so called dipped type, yarn is wound or wrapped around a spherical body, and thereafter said structure is dipped or immersed in rubber vce- 50 ment, with the hope that the strands located at the periphery of the structure will be cemented together and held against slippage or relative movement. Due to the fact that the cement is not applied to the yarn until afterthe wrapping strength of the individual strands and which' does not effectively hold the strands against slip-'- page. My improved ball is distinguished from such a dipped ball, by reason of the fact that it is composed of aspherical body, and a resilient shell of definite shape and form, that surrounds said spherical body and effectively prevents it from losing its original shape, said resilient shell having permanently imbedded therein strands of yarn that are individually encased in a tough,

resilient coating which merges into the coatings of adjacent strands. In other words, in my improved ball' each particle of yarn in the shell-like part c is completely covered with rubber-like material before said yarn is wound into or lincorporated in the ball. Hence, the strands 'of yarn in 'said shell are permanently united with each other by the rubber-like coating on the strands, and at the completion of the Winding operation, the coating of the respective strands merge into each other and form a resilient body or shell of ,dennite shape or form that is practically indestructible -and which accomplishes the desirable results previously explained.

Having thus described my invention, what I or winding operation, the individual strands oi' claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. An indoor or playground ball, comprising a spherical body constituting the major portion of the bulk of the ball and having a diameter only slightly less than the over-all diameter of the ball, said body being of such a character or nature, that in the absence oi a protecting medium for said body, the normal use oi the ball would cause said body to quickly break down or lose its shape, and a resilient shell of definite shape and substantial thickness that surrounds said body and preserves the original spherical form of same, said shell being formed by winding around said spherical body, yarn that is coated with latex prior to the winding operation.

2. An indoor or playground ball, comprising a spherical body constituting the major portion of the bulk of the ball and having a diameter only slightly less than the over-all diameter of the ball, said body being of such a character or nature, that in the absence of a protecting medium vfor said body, the normal use o! the ball would cause said body to quickly break down or lose its shape, and a resilient shell of deilnite shape and form, that surrounds said spherical body and eilectively absorbs shocks or blows which tend to permanently alter the original shape of said body, said shell being composed of a solidiiled mass of resilient, rubber-like material reinforced and strengthened by a multitude of strands of yarn, each of which strands is completely surrounded by said rubber-like material. v

JOHN' H. GRADY. 

